The music on the front page rotates and is intended to carry the message of the course and the entire site.

The song that will play on the website for these next weeks of class will pay homage to This Bridge Called My Back. We start with an anthem... to Black Girl Magic!

Welcome to fall 2017! ​We open this website in fall semester of 2017 to the instrumental of Quiet Storm by Mobb Deep. We will take up their notion of THE REAL! In these times of talks of nuclear war, white supremacist parades, NFL black-outs, president declarations of misogyny (and the list goes on), your college classes need to be REAL. Let's see if we can get REAL that way in gender studies! R.I.P., Prodigy...

Welcome to spring 2017! This will be a tough semester, but know that this class intends to supports your mind and spirit in the times ahead. We gon take this back to a Lil Old Skool Janet Jackson here at the start. Like her lyrics say, this class is ALL FOR YOU!

Chayna Ashley kicks open our semester by reminding us to always "Think B.I.G." We will look at her work and words later in the semester when we turn to Hip Hop, but her message also sets us off. See her video also!

We dedicate a love song on this site to LGBTQ youth: "I Was Born This Way (Better Days)" by Carl Bean. Buy the single!

As we move into ePortfolio design and round out our unit on hegemonic masculinities, De La Soul's 1994 classic, "Ego Trippin," will be our anthem. Though the song works as an explicit, no-holds-barred critique of gangsta rap, we will treat this song ALSO--- and more deeply--- as a critique of the larger issues of hegemonic masculinity. Really listen to these lyrics... and remember these are MEANT as parody. Can you hear it?

"Ella's Song" by Sweet Honey in the Rock became part of the course's soundtrack in November 2016. In the fall 2016 semester after the presidential election, we took this back to the Old Skool to the styles of Slave Spirituals/Freedom Songs... because we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes!! ​For the full playlist, click here!

This song takes us back to the 1990s withBritish singer Caron Wheeler's debut solo album called UK Blak. This song, "Livin in the Light," describes slavery and its aftermath and the strength of African Diaspora cultures and worldviews.